The director of the World Health Organization called on rich countries with large supplies of COVID-19 vaccines to refrain from offering boosters until the end of the year, insisting on a call that has largely fallen on deaf ears.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that he was “dismayed” by comments from a pharmaceutical association that said vaccine supplies are high enough to allow both booster shots and vaccines in countries facing shortage.
“I will not remain silent when the companies and countries that control the world’s vaccine supply think that the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” he told a news conference in Geneva.
Tedros had previously called for a “moratorium” on booster injections until the end of September, but several wealthy nations – such as Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Britain, Israel and the United States – have started or are considering plans to offer third injections. to the two-dose vaccines to their vulnerable people, such as the elderly or those with delicate immune systems.
The WHO director said this month he received a message of “clear support” from various health ministers during a meeting of the Group of 20 for a commitment to help achieve the WHO goal of all countries vaccinating at least 40% of its population by the end of the year.
The WHO has reported that 5.5 billion coronavirus vaccines have been applied so far, but 80% of them have been in high- and middle-income countries.
Rich countries have also offered to donate a billion vaccines to other countries, but only less than 15% of those doses have “materialized,” Tedros said.
He noted that manufacturers have pledged to prioritize a UN-backed program to bring vaccines to the world’s most needy people.
“We don’t want any more promises. We just want the vaccines, ”said the head of the WHO.
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